Posted on 09/08/2022 6:22:26 PM PDT by SpeedyInTexas
Major League Baseball will implement a pitch clock and ban defensive shifts beginning in the 2023 season, people familiar with the matter said, an attempt to quicken pace of play and reinvigorate offenses as a means of combating the sport’s faded appeal with fans.
An 11-person joint committee that includes four active players recommended the changes. Former Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox executive Theo Epstein served as an adviser to the committee. The league also will increase the size of bases by three inches, a measure it believes will reduce collisions and injuries.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“Quotas on foreigners”
You have a valid point.
But I do want to see ‘Show Time’ in person.
Re: 11 - Agreed. The shift is not the problem.
I am 100% in favor of a pitch clock. And calling a strike if the batter steps out of the box.
But please stop a runner being on second base in extra innings! Why not just put the ball on a tee if they will start runners in scoring position!
I am also a Pirates fan. Don’t live near the Burgh anymore but watch the occasional game on MLB.com.
There are teams that get by with low payroll and still remain competitive most years - Tampa, Oakland, Cleveland are examples, as is Milwaukee to a lesser extent.
The difference between them and the Bucs is in player development. When Tampa brings up a player from the minors they are generally prepared to compete in the majors and usually produce to their minor league projections. The Bucs brought up a bunch of rookies this year and most flopped like codfish.....most of them only know to pull the ball into the shift, thus make decent contact but produce no runs outside of the occasional homer. They seem totally unprepared for major league pitching.
Cruz and Castro appear to be figuring some things out finally, but other than that, the best rookie on the team has been Jason Delay, a weak hitting catcher but a stellar defender and framer, who would not even be in the majors if they had any other options.
So it’s not just cheapness, it’s not spending money where it counts - in getting the most from the players you have. Tampa routinely takes other teams’ castoffs (especially the Pirates) and turns them into productive big league players. Doesn’t happen much in Pittsburgh.
If the Bucs had young players produce to the best of their ability and cheap waiver pickups that get coached into temporary usefulness, they would be at least competitive in a weak division with the payroll they have now.
Re: 30 - bunting is a dying skill. I’d love to see the number of bunts over the last 30 years. It just does not seem to be used a lot in MLB.
Man, Pastorini was fun to watch.
Then you could add designated base runners and totally ruin it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxPRocenI1s
Right. My beloved Red Sox are dead to me now.
Turning baseball into a video game will only hasten the downfall of the Grand Old Game. We went to the ball park to RELAX.
Yup...I will not be lectured on morality by guys who make 20 times more than the most skilled heart surgeon in the country...for catching a ball. Hell,I won’t even let Snivelling Little Schitt (Schiff) lecture me!
I can hear the loudspeakers now:
"WOULD THE FAN SITTING IN SECTION 102, ROW H, SEAT 42, PLEASE REPORT TO THE VISITORS DUGOUT FOR BASERUNNING DUTY."
Then you see some big fat guy with half his shirt unbuttoned waddle down the aisle with a hot dog in one hand, a beer in the other, with the crowd going crazy all around him.
Better than a robot, how about putting some teeth into the grading system on umpires? Maybe they could get rid of some of the crap umpires who still think that they are a bigger part of the game than the players!
And this speeding up of the game and more offense? Why not just have a home run hitting contest to decide all games tied after 9 innings? Putting a runner on 2nd base to start each half inning in extras is ludicrous.
Ban defensive shifts?
Insanity worse than the designated hitter!
= = =
Does this mean the third baseman can’t play close to home plate on anticipated bunt???
Yep, bad insanity.
Oh c’mon. MLB is certain that swinging pink bats on Mother’s Day and Breast Cancer Awareness Day draws hundreds of thousands of women to the game.
And...? So what? They are a bunch of anti-American thugs so who cares what they do?
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